Kiefer Opens Up On ’24,’ DUI, Jail Time

Kiefer Sutherland stopped by the TV critics press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., this week to talk a bit about the upcoming 24 two-hour prequel, which will set up the seventh season that starts in early 2009. The prequel will air in November on Fox.

He gave a tidbit to a small group of reporters about what the two-hour special will entail and where it picks up in the life of Jack Bauer.

“He left at the end of Season 6, he was so disillusioned by, not only what he’d done with his life, but the circumstances of what he’d done in the States,” Sutherland said. “There was something wonderful about the beginning of the show in South Africa that he had actually found a kind of peace and a calm there with his friend and the dynamic between (actor) Bobby Carlyle who (plays) an old friend of his that he’d been working special forces with like 15 years ago.”

The two-hour prequel takes place mostly in Africa, where Carlyle’s character runs a school that offers a safe haven to African kids who have been fighting in the continent’s many wars.

“It was the first time where you saw this character in a place where he was giving back for a lot of the things that, in fairness, he felt like he’d been part of the problem,” Sutherland said about Jack. “On an emotional level, it’s a really nice, fresh start for him.”

Sutherland addressed his DUI from late last year and the time he spent in jail, acknowledging that the TV writers’ strike allowed him to serve his seven weeks in L.A. County Jail all at once.

“It made what I had to do — because of, obviously, a very stupid thing that I did — it made that easier because I could do it in one go and the show was not effected by that,” Sutherland said. “I went to jail for seven weeks, so … I got out .. in the middle of January sometime.

“I made a really dumb mistake and to be able to go back to work was something that I feel comfortable doing and it’s a safe place for me. I was grateful to have that opportunity. And I’ve had very good friends that have made similar mistakes that have not been that lucky, so I was very aware of how lucky I was to have that opportunity.”
Watch full episodes of 24 here on Fancast.